Rikku's Hymn
by Rod M. Aster
Summary: After the Battle with Sin, Auron disappears. Four months later he comes back to tell Rikku a few things that are on his mind. AuRikku one-shot. Lil' Auron/Braska Rated T for language and alcohol references. Very fluffy at the end lol


**Hey guys! Okay, so this is my first one-shot. Please don't kill me about the 'ships in this story. Don't forget to review! Enjoy.**

**~R.M.A**

"Rikku's Hymn"

Shouts erupted around her, and the sphere blared out the announcer's voice.

"Goal!" he shouted. "Another one for the Beasts!" The blitz game on the sphere showed the score. 7-0, Beasts vs. Goers, Beasts favor. After the Goers lost the one game to Besaid, they got pretty sorry until watching them was just downright pathetic.

She wasn't watching the game. She sipped on an appletini as she stared at the bar. She didn't drink fruity drinks because she couldn't take whiskey. She could shoot drinks down as much as the next guy (or girl), but she didn't want it to seem like she was drinking just to get plastered, even though she was.

This was the bar that he was in when they first found him. That's what Tidus said. She thought being here would spark some kind of connection, some sign that he was with her somehow, but she didn't feel anything.

She shook her hair out of her face, sending braids flying everywhere.

"Barkeep…" she muttered. "Gimme another." The bartender obeyed, sliding a fresh appletini to her. She took a gulp and sat the glass on the bar looking back up to the game.

The Beasts had scored two more goals. Good for them.

"Hey," a voice beside her said. She moved her head slightly to see a blonde guy with no shirt sitting next to her. "What's your name?"

She hated people flirting with her.

She scoffed, "Not."

"'Not?' What kind of name is that?"

"Not interested," she replied flatly. "Get it?"

"Aw, come on," the blonde said. "Don't be like that."

She glared at him, her green eyes icy.

"Let me buy you a drink. Come on."

"No," she said. "If I'm getting destroyed, I want the pleasure of knowing I did it by myself."

"Well, maybe after you get a couple more drinks in you, we can have some fun."

"What kind of girl do you think I am?!" she said sharply.

"My kind," the blonde said with a smile.

"Real original." She stood up to get another seat. "Stay the hell away from me."

The blonde grabbed her hand. "Come on, baby."

She clenched her fist and let him have it. The blonde fell down, clutching his nose. "Don't touch me, you stupid prick!"

The blonde backed away on the heel of his free hand. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

She sat down, ignoring the stares that penetrated her back. Her drink was nearly empty.

"Another for the lady," A voice behind her said. "I'll buy." She whipped around to see a tall man with black hair. He sat down on the stool beside her.

"Y'know, I don't usually let guys buy me drinks," she said.

"Would you make an exception?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

The man smiled a very small smile as he laid some gil on the bar. "That guy got you pretty mad it looks like…"

"You're telling me," she said as she sipped her new drink. "I haven't gotten that pissed since Wakka was being such a Yevonite dick." She sipped again. "That asshole's just lucky he only got punched in the nose."

"Looks like you can hold your own," the man said. He seemed slightly pleased.

"Yeah, I've had some practice. I used to be a guardian."

"Really?" the man smiled suspiciously.

"Yep," she seemed to brighten a bit. "That was about a year ago. We kicked some fiend butt." She slammed her empty glass down, hitting the bar, signaling the barkeep for another drink.

"Rikku," the man whispered, "you're going to kill your liver."

"Coming from the man who always has sake on him," Rikku replied venomously. She took a gulp out of her new drink. "Why should I care, Auron?" She looked back at the sphere. The blitz game was over; score was 10-1. The Goers got murdered.

People started leaving as the game ended. Soon, there were only a few people left in the bar. Rikku got up to leave, then fell back on her stool. Her head was spinning. How many drinks had she had? Six? Seven maybe? She tried to get up, but fell in the floor.

"Rikku!" Auron shouted. Rikku felt her body lift up off the ground. She leaned on something warm. She opened her eyes slightly to see that she was pressed against Auron's body. She could hear his heart beat, which didn't make sense to her at all.

"Hey, get her outta here!" the barkeep yelled.

"Come on, Rikku," Auron muttered. Rikku groaned into his chest as he led her outside.

The sky outside was dark. The sun was gone, past the horizon. Rain was pouring and thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Let's get out of the rain," Auron said as he picked Rikku up in his arms. She pressed against his shoulders and breathed in his scent.

"Auron…" she whispered, barely audible.

He moved towards the road with the metal awning that overlooked the ocean and set Rikku down on a bench as she shivered from the cold rain.

"Here," he said as he took off his red trench coat and handed it to Rikku. "Keep from freezing to death out here."

Rikku took it and slipped it on, breathing in more of his wonderful smell. She looked at him with sorrowful eyes. "I thought you went away… I thought you were gone…"

Auron looked at her. His shirt was black and sleeveless, revealing the biceps in his arms. He walked to the wall adjacent to the bench and turned to face her as he leaned against the cold metal wall. "I know…"

"So why are you here?"

Auron smiled his smug smile. "I wanted to be here."

"Why?" Rikku asked. "The Farplane is so much more beautiful than this." She pointed to the rainy weather.

"I think that this is very beautiful," Auron said.

Rikku stared at the scene outside. "How can this be beautiful?"

"Because you're here."

Rikku flinched slightly at his comment, then straightened up. She would _not_ let him see weakness in her. None. "Oh, I'm so flattered." Sarcasm dripped from every word. She tried to stand again, but then fell back down.

"Don't bother. You're drunk."

"You're damn right I am…"

Auron sat down where he was. Rikku looked at his face. It looked like he was very upset, but what did he have to be upset about?

"So, just how did you get out of the Farplane?"

"I just walked out. It wasn't that hard."

But…" she stalled, "you're alive…"

"I am."

"How?"

"I just wished for it to happen…" Auron brushed a hand through his hair, shaking out raindrops that had settled inside. "I told you, I don't belong there, so I just walked out."

"You always were the stubborn type…" Rikku commented. "Typical ass-like behavior."

Auron chuckled under his breath. "Cute."

A brief silence ensued. Rikku looked down at the ground, trying not to meet Auron's gaze, trying not to show any sign of backing down.

"So tell me the truth," she said sharply, hoping the hostility of her voice would make him back off. "Why did you really want out?"

Auron looked at her softly. _'Shit'_, Rikku thought. He wasn't backing off.

"Because… I love you…"

Rikku let go of her control for a moment. He was so forward. Was he even telling the truth?

She regained composure. "Wow," she said unenthusiastically. "This is coming from the guy that almost turned me into a lesbian."

Auron scoffed. "Funny."

"I was halfway telling the truth…" She was.

"Well, I was telling the truth, too…"

"Can you prove it?"

"I could," Auron said, a ghost of a smile creasing his lips, "but you might just punch me in the face."

"Ok, so now you're gonna be a smartass."

"Maybe."

Rikku held herself closer into the trench coat to guard from the cold. The coat still resonated with the warmth Auron put into it.

'_I can't seriously love him anymore,'_ Rikku thought to herself in desperation. _'I can't. I won't.'_

"So, let me get this stuff straight. You came from the Farplane, from friggin' _Guadosalam_, to come to Luca so you could just say hi?"

"Guess so…"

"That, my friend, is very messed up."

Awkward pause.

"Can I ask you a question?" Rikku asked. "Why wouldn't you marry that girl when you were a monk?"

Auron looked taken aback. _'Double shit!!!' _Rikku thought. She tried to recover the question.

"You don't have to—"

"Yes, I do," Auron replied in a whisper. "I was being forced to marry, but I didn't love her. I didn't even _know_ her." He took his flask and drank some of his sake. He offered it to Rikku, who turned it down. "At the time, I loved Braska."

Rikku was surprised, but laughed at his comment. "Aww, that's so cute."

Auron smiled weakly. "That's why I became his guardian. Even though he didn't love me, I still loved him, and I didn't want him to get hurt."

Rikku sighed softly. "Never thought of you as being gay."

Auron laughed gruffly. "I wouldn't go that far. It was a one time thing."

"That's why you were so angry at that Yunalesca chick…"

Auron closed his eyes tight and balled his fists.

"She took the only friends I had…" he whispered. "She took them for something that wasn't even real… That's why I went after her…"

Rikku looked up at Auron to see that he had a tear rolling down his scruffy cheek. She tried not to break down.

"You knew you were gonna die as soon as you went back to Zanarkand…"

"I figured it would be better… Go to the Farplane, see everyone you ever loved or even cared about…"

"But you didn't stay…"

"As I can quote from a famous book, 'Life's a bitch, then you die,'" Auron took another drink of sake. "'As if I could be so lucky.'"

"So you didn't like being alive or dead?"

"That's about the short story of it all…"

Rikku looked outside of the awning. It looked surreal to see rain falling down, but she could still see the moon in a small patch of sky that the clouds couldn't touch. The reflection of the moon on the water was deformed from the waves and the rain, but it was still there. It was still beautiful.

"I came back this time…" Auron whispered, "because I know you love me."

'_Oh, hell no, he didn't just say that,'_ Rikku thought angrily.

"You could not be more wrong, Auron," she said, her voice seething.

"Tell me to my face that you never loved me." Auron had his smile on again.

Rikku hesitated, then told the truth. "I used to love you. It doesn't mean I love you anymore."

"I could quote another famous man," he said, grinning all the while. "'When one loves, the love never wholly fades away.'"

"Don't use your philosophical bullshit on me!"

Auron stood up. "Maybe I should leave…" He walked into the pouring rain. Rikku looked at the ground, then stood up, furious.

"The hell you are! You come back here, you son of a bitch!" Rikku shouted as she ran into the rain. Auron stopped where he was, but didn't turn around.

"Look, I'm sorry you had such a shitty life! I'm sorry that you don't get your way, but you should have told me you liked me before you went away!" Rikku turned Auron to face her. "Do you know how many nights I've spent like this? Do you know how many drinks I've had, drinks that I've had just to try and drown you from my mind?! You tell me that I'm killing my liver when it's _your_ fault!" Tears streaked Rikku's face as the rain masked them, but she kept shouting. "Yeah, I did like you, but I thought you were _dead!_ The one person I ever really loved was in the Farplane and there wasn't a damn thing I could do to fix it!"

Auron looked down at Rikku with no emotion in his eyes.

"Are you gonna just stand there and look stupid? Tell me something, and tell me the truth! Did you ever love me, because I sure as hell love you!"

Auron swiftly leaned into to Rikku's face and silenced her with a kiss. Rikku was still talking when his warm tongue entered her mouth. She realized he was kissing her, so she kissed him back angrily. She pulled his hair as she slid her tongue around his, tasting sweet sake on his lips. The rain pelted her face and she freely let the tears come as they would.

He found her after so long.

When Auron finally pulled away, he held Rikku close against his body. She could feel his warmth, his heartbeat which she no longer questioned. She didn't care how he was here. He was just here, and he was just hers.

"Auron…" Rikku quietly sobbed, "sing me a song…"

Auron looked down at her and buried his face into her hair. "_Ieyui… Nobomenu…_"

He was singing the Hymn of the Fayth.

"_Renmiri… Yojuyogo…_"

Rikku smiled as she remembered the last two lines of the song. She sang it as he breathed it into her hair.

"_Hasatekanae… Kutamae…_"

Rikku sighed the meaning of the last words. "Forever and ever, bring us peace…"

Auron looked at her and smiled. Rikku smiled back and leaned in to kiss him again.

END


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